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jetter

08-03-2009, 05:53 AM

i'm considering a jetter. so i'm going to have a few questions. you would think that Ace would have written that novel by now.....
4gal. 4000 psi vs 5.5 gal. 3000 psi
how far can you "typically" go with 3/8 hose? with referance to the above for 200 ft runs?
for those of you that have used the rootranger and the warthog what do you perfer? from what i understand if i did go with the 4x4, iwould have to use the rootranger only.
how critical is it to have a remote shut off if i'm also using it for inside the house? (with smaller hose of course.)

Comment

Well, off the bat I'd say if you have the space for a supply tank 8gpm at 4000. If space is an issue, as it always is, my favorite setup is 5.5 at 4000 because AR sells a direct drive pump with those specs, and direct drive saves some space, complication, and $. No reason to limit yourself to commercially available models if you have the time and are comfortable bolting together your own.

I do things in a kind of non standard manner that makes sense to me and works well for me, but may not be a methodology you'd like.

I have 4 machines, one is a general j3055 that I picked up cheap and have yet to put to work. One is a direct drive 5.5 gpm/4000psi. I like the direct drive for the space savings. 2 have belt driven pumps rated 5.5 gpm, 4000 psi. These are tweaked a little in that the pulleys for the belts have been chosen to allow the operator to overspeed the pumps a little and get more flow when he wants it.

I don't use unloaders, which can blow things up if you are not careful and quick and experienced; get some grit in your supply water that is the right size to plug your nozzle and you can overpressure things quickly; the little relief valves that come on the pumps are too small to take the full flow and are usually non-funtional or at least compromised with grit and corrosion by the time they are asked to work anyway. I went away from the unloaders as I've never had a foot pedal or other remote shutoff, and the threads on the shafts of the things kept stripping out, and they were just a pain so I either threw them out or just bottomed them on the machines that still have them. I find I can control pressure as I like with rpm and nozzle orifice size.

I use 1/4" hose. Typically have 250'-350' on the reel, and sometimes add 150' or so in an extra piece I carry for odd long runs, when I can't get the machine close to where I'm working, or when I want to do a reverse.

Recently I was doing some testing on a machine I was putting back in service. With ~350' of 1/4 inch and no nozzle, machine wide open so probably making 6gpm or so, I was showing just shy of 2000psi at the pump outlet, so a lot of the pressure is going into just pushing it through the hose. But this has worked for me for years, and that machine went back to work just like that and kicks butt.

I tend towards nozzles sized for max pressure (4000 at the pump) at 6 gpm with my typical 250'-350' of 1/4 inch, but most of these are old and have probably opened up some with use. I rarely run 4000 psi; usually in the 2800-3000 range. I'm not putting out full flow at that pressure; I dial the rpms down, it's there if I want it.

The seal problems I was having were with the warthog; I've yet to get my rootranger and try it out. You do have to rebuild a warthog from time to time. Mine did have .038 jets in the side and .017 in the front. I had no luck with roots with that setup on my machines. I switched to .035's in the sides, and now run higher pressures as a result, but vaporize the masses of small hairlike roots I see here. I crank it up to ~3800psi or so for the roots. I was having seal problems with that, but the first two problems were on nozzles with a lot of miles on them that were probably due for a rebuild anyway, and the third, which occurred right after I'd just rebuilt one, turned out to be a piece of grit that had got on the high pressure seal.

I'd say you want something small, like Aquamole's monster flusher button tip, to pop clogs, and both a 3/8" warthog and a 1/4" root ranger; the warthog is my go-to nozzle for cleaning once the clog is popped and I also like it for a finishing pass as the sheer size of the thing tells me a 4" is not crushed or terribly egged out or misaligned at a joint separation if it goes through. The root ranger I've ordered because I want to see what it can do, and I don't like pushing the machines and nozzles as hard as I have to to cut roots with the warthog, and it's another tool in the box when something breaks, and I've just got to have one.

This is my reminder to myself that no good will ever come from discussing politics or religion with anyone, ever.

Comment

have you heard of this co. sewerequipmentandsupplies.com?
they have a 5.5 gal 3000 psi with remote for a good price. i talked to the guy and he said the engine is a honda nock off. anyone have thoughts about this and the quality?

the only dumb question is the one that is not asked!

Comment

have you heard of this co. sewerequipmentandsupplies.com?
they have a 5.5 gal 3000 psi with remote for a good price. i talked to the guy and he said the engine is a honda nock off. anyone have thoughts about this and the quality?

that sounds like the unit allclear bought. althouh he won't admit it, he had problems with it not putting out the specs he was originally promised.

why not get a price on a non knock off engine. plus 13h.p is too small, you need 16 for those specs.

Comment

The ones I use a lot have a Honda, a Robin/Subaru, and a Briggs. The Honda's the pick of the litter. The Briggs runs too rich at this altitude (~9000') despite the 'high altitude' kit and I had to throw the air cleaner away to keep it running. The Robin has sucked a valve guide and eaten a starter. I cooked the Honda badly one time when it sucked some plastic sheeting I had in the van up against it's cooling fan inlet. It got hot enough it quit running, and I thought I'd killed it, but it's just run happily ever since despite that; got a tiny oil leak at that time that I've never been enough bothered by to chase down.

Some have a preference for one brand of pump over another... I've had General's and AR's. They all seem to need some attention from time to time.

This is my reminder to myself that no good will ever come from discussing politics or religion with anyone, ever.

Comment

the bigger one 5.5 at 3000psi has a udorff? pump. with a 16 horse honda nock off engine wireless remote and the other one 4 at 4000psi has a general with a honda gx390engine

It's udor pump they are great, but I would choose the 4gpm at 4000 psi unit as 1.5 gpm is not enough to matter and the extra 1000 psi will. Don't get me wrong GPM is a major factor but you need a jump from 4 to 8 to really notice.

Comment

Lots of good info here, thanks first to all that have posted,,,, I am learning about this service so cut me a little slack and any help is always appreciated. I too am looking for my first jetter,,, I know this is the Ridgid board and I have many Ridgid tools, but for the jetter I have been looking at the American Jetter, 7gpm @ 4000 psi cart jetter with 12 gallon tank and also the skid with the same specs and a 200 gallon tank to mount in the truck. US jetting is a little above my wallet or should I say budget. I am anticipating 2-4" drains and sewers with the 4" having roots in one of the complexes we do work at. Does anyone have any info on American jetters, I here a lot about the generals, and the lack of power on the Ridgid. please help
Thanks Rookie jetter in the making.

Comment

Only thing I don't like about the American Jetters is they push Koehlor engines and they have carb problems. If they can make you one with a honda engine then go for it, if not just buy one someplace else. After all it's just a pressure washer.

Seattle Drain Service

Comment

And to anyone thinking of adding jetting to their services it takes time to get contracts set up with people and time to sell your new service. I would just buy a 4000 pw with 5 gallon a minute pump, buy a ridgid root ranger nozzle, some 3/8 hose and a foot pedal, and a hose reel and you are set to start jetting! Buy the PW used and you won't have that much cash sitting around waiting to be earned back.